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Proceedings of the 39th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2006

Knowledge Management and Organizational Performance:


An Exploratory Survey

J.D. McKeen M.H. Zack Satyendra Singh


School of Business College of Business School of Business
Queen’s University Administration Queen’s University
Kingston, Canada Northeastern University Kingston, Canada
jmckeen@business.queensu.ca Boston, USA ssingh@business.queensu.ca
m.zack@neu.edu

Abstract number of descriptive exploratory qualitative case studies


[e.g., 21, 31, 39, 46]. Although this body of work contains
Ninety organizations were surveyed in an exploratory valuable and insightful concepts and frameworks that
investigation of the organizational impact of knowledge have helped to define and shape the KM discipline, it is
management (KM). A search of the literature revealed 12 time to begin testing and advancing this work using more
KM practices. Results indicated that these KM practices precise methods.
were directly related to organizational performance Perhaps the most significant gap in the literature is the
which, in turn, was directly related to financial lack of large-scale empirical evidence that KM makes a
performance. In addition, a different set of KM practices difference to organizational performance. While survey
were associated with specific value disciplines (i.e., research is beginning to appear in KM journals [e.g., 31,
customer intimacy, product development and operational 41], the bulk is descriptive [11]. Of the few survey studies
excellence). Interestingly, a significant gap exists between that examine relationships between KM and other factors
the KM practices that firms believe to be important and [e.g., 43] only a few articles (discussed below)
those that turned out to be directly related to empirically investigate the relationship between KM and
organizational performance. The implications of this organizational performance.
study are significant for both practitioners and Our objective for the research reported here was to
academics. Suggestions are offered for future work in this conduct an exploratory quantitative survey to be able to
area. create a broader set of evidence regarding the relationship
between KM and organizational performance. While
1. Introduction performance itself is a useful metric, the ultimate measure
of value is the ability to support an organization’s
Over the past 15 years, knowledge management (KM) competitive strategy. This especially applies to KM, as
has progressed from an emergent concept to an knowledge has been considered an organization’s most
increasingly common function in business organizations. strategic resource [63]. We therefore administered a
As evidence of its maturity as an area of academic study, survey asking respondents to describe their organization’s
a host of journals devoted to KM and intellectual capital involvement in KM practices, the strategic focus of their
management have been created (e.g., Journal of KM initiatives, several intermediate performance
Knowledge Management, International Journal of measures aligned with strategic value disciplines [58],
Intellectual Capital and Learning, Journal of Knowledge financial performance measures, and several contextual
Management Practice, Electronic Journal of Knowledge factors addressing characteristics about its competitive
Management, Knowledge Management Research & environment. Rather than merely describe the state of
Practice, Journal of Intellectual Capital, International practice in our respondents’ organizations, we
Journal of Knowledge Management, Knowledge investigated the relationships among KM practices,
Management, Knowledge Management Review, and intermediate and financial outcomes, and the
Knowledge and Process Management). organization’s competitive environment.
As might be expected for a still emerging discipline, Our results indicate that KM practices are positively
little quantitative empirical research has been published associated with organizational performance as generally
[24]. The bulk of the published work in the KM area suggested by the KM literature, both qualitative [21, 39,
comprises conceptual frameworks and theoretical models. 46] and quantitative [14, 19, 36, 51, 53]. More
Extant empirical research relies primarily on a small specifically we found that KM practices are directly
related to various intermediate measures of strategic

0-7695-2507-5/06/$20.00 (C) 2006 IEEE 1


Proceedings of the 39th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2006

organizational performance (viz., customer intimacy, with a set of intermediate outcomes that we call
product leadership, and operational excellence), and that “organizational performance”, and organizational
those intermediate measures are, in turn, associated with performance will be positively associated with financial
financial performance. Based on this evidence, our performance. Our primary research question is: Is the
assumption (whose further support is beyond the scope of extent to which an organization engages in particular KM
this paper) is that as long as KM practices enhance practices positively related to organizational performance,
intermediate organizational performance, positive and is organizational performance, in turn, positively
financial performance will result [36]. related to financial performance? We also were interested
in learning if there was a direct relationship between KM
2. Research model practices and financial performance. Should these
relationships prove to hold, we were interested in
The assumption underlying the practice of KM is that knowing which specific KM practices had the greatest
by locating and sharing useful knowledge, organizational relationship with organizational performance.
performance will improve [21]. KM has been linked In identifying KM practices as antecedents to
positively to non-financial performance measures such as organizational performance, we attempted to include
quality [45], innovation [25], and productivity [32]. In factors (e.g., knowledge processing behaviors,
reality, one might expect KM to influence many different management practices, and organization culture) that are
aspects of organizational performance simultaneously. similar to those identified by Gold et al [27], Morhman et
Most of the recent surveys examining the performance al [44] and others, yet maintain clarity regarding our
impacts of KM have aggregated several different research question. Our objective was to address the KM-
measures of impact or performance. Gold et al [27] performance issue directly. We were less interested in the
examined the contribution of “knowledge infrastructure” detailed technological, socio-cultural, or structural
(information technology, organization culture, and mechanisms by which KM is supported or enhanced, and
organization structure) and knowledge processing focused instead on the perceived quality and extent of
capability (i.e., the ability to acquire, convert, apply and KM practices and how they related to outcomes. In doing
protect knowledge) on several dimensions of so, we hoped to more clearly show the existence (or lack
organizational effectiveness. They found a strong and thereof) of a relationship between KM practices and
significant relationship between both knowledge performance outcomes.
infrastructure and knowledge processing with
organizational effectiveness, measured using a broad set KM Financial
of non-financial outcomes (e.g., innovation, coordination, Practices Performance
responsiveness, ability to identify market opportunities,
speed to market, and process efficiency). They did not Organizational
performance
examine the relationship to financial performance.
Mohrman et al. [44] extended the notion of organizational
effectiveness to include financial measures. They Figure 1. Research model
surveyed 10 companies and established a weak positive
relationship between the extent to which the organizations The following sections describe the constructs of our
created and exploited knowledge and overall model and the survey items used to operationalize them.
organizational performance, including financial metrics.
However, by aggregating a broad set of financial and non- 2.1. KM practices
financial metrics, the strength of the relationship may
have been reduced. Most of the remaining surveys we We define KM practices as “observable organizational
identified used a similar approach of aggregating financial activities that are related to knowledge management”. We
and non-financial metrics to measure performance [e.g., identified four key dimensions of KM practice from the
14, 19, 36, 52]. Refer to Appendix A for a summary of literature that appear to relate to performance: 1) the
articles that examine the relationship between KM and ability to locate and share existing knowledge, 2) the
organizational performance. ability to experiment and create new knowledge, 3) a
With regard to the impact of KM, financial and non- culture that encourages knowledge creation and sharing,
financial outcomes are distinct constructs [53]. Changes and 4) a regard for the strategic value of knowledge and
to organization practices in general, and KM in particular, learning. The literature to support these dimensions
do not necessarily result in changes to financial follows.
performance [31], KM, rather, affects a set of According to Davenport and Prusak [21], KM is focused
intermediate capabilities that, in turn, should affect on processes and mechanisms for locating and sharing
financial performance [36]. Our research model (Figure 1) what is known by an organization or its external
proposes that KM practices will be positively associated

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Proceedings of the 39th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2006

stakeholders. The ability to share internal best practices is 2.2. Organizational performance
important to overall organizational performance [54], and
exploiting external knowledge is crucial in driving new The potential for KM to create competitive advantage is
product innovation [61] and to organization performance positively linked to organizational performance [51].
in general [52]. To this end, we have included items to Tracey and Wiesema [58] proposed three “value
measure the extent to which the organization is able to disciplines” or strategic performance capabilities, each
identify internal sources of expertise, transfer best offering a path towards competitive advantage. Product
practice throughout the organization, and exploit external leadership represents competition based primarily on
knowledge of stakeholders such as customers. product or service innovation. Customer intimacy
Culture is perhaps the most influential factor in represents competition based on understanding, satisfying
promoting or inhibiting the practice of KM [20, 36]. and retaining customers. Operational excellence
Specifically, organizations that value their employees for represents competition based on efficient internal
what they know, and reward employees for sharing that operations. We chose to link KM practices to these three
knowledge create a climate that is more conducive to KM. indicators of strategic organizational performance. O’Dell
We therefore included items to measure these aspects of et al. suggest that organizations implement KM practices
organizational culture. often to improve one or more of these three value
Organizational learning may be the most strategically disciplines [47] We included items that measured the
valuable dynamic capability [56]. Learning is the process extent of product and service innovation, quality,
by which knowledge comes into being and is enhanced customer satisfaction and retention, and operating
over time, and is therefore intimately associated with KM. efficiency, relative to other organizations in the
Organizational performance requires not only exploiting respondent’s industry (Appendix B).
what is known, but also exploring new domains of
knowledge to create opportunities for future exploitation 2.3. Financial performance
[38]. Organizations that enjoy knowledge superiority
today may find themselves at a competitive disadvantage To the extent that organizations are able to excel in one
in the future if their competitors are more capable of or more value disciplines, they should realize competitive
learning within similar domains [64]. We therefore advantage and positive financial performance [58]. We
included items to measure the extent to which the included two items for financial performance, one
organization experimented and learned about customers, measuring return on assets or equity and the other
markets, products and services. profitability, both relative to other organizations in the
Following Barney [3], a strategic resource should result respondent’s industry (Appendix B).
in strategies that produce greater value than those of
competitors. Taking the knowledge based view, the 2.4. Contextual influences
knowledge resource should similarly be linked to value-
creating strategies [7, 63]. To that end, knowledge should According to the contingency theory school, an
be considered as a central strategic resource within the organization’s environment can be a significant influence
strategic planning process and its creation and use on performance [33, 34, 57]. Environments that are overly
explicitly mapped to some notion of value [17]. Taking a complex, uncertain or dynamic may hinder learning [33].
strategic view also requires benchmarking knowledge The more complex, uncertain or ambiguous the
resources against those of competitors ([63]. To capture environment, the more organizations must rely on
explicitly this link between KM practices and strategic intellectual resources and KM capabilities [42]. To
value, we included items to measure the extent to which control for environmental differences across industries,
knowledge was included in the strategic planning process, we included items addressing rate of industry growth,
knowledge was benchmarked against competitors, and competitive change and intensity, and technology change
knowledge was explicitly mapped to value creation. We and predictability. We also controlled for other contextual
also measured the extent to which the organizational unit factors including age of organization, size of organization,
responsible for KM was perceived to be creating value for revenue relative to industry, share of market relative to
the organization. industry, organization structure, and whether the
In total, we identified twelve KM practices, each having organization was private or public.
been suggested elsewhere as being important for effective
KM. These are listed in Appendix B. We used a five-point
Likert-type scale to ascertain the extent to which an
3. Research method
organization was actively engaged in each of these KM
We developed a survey to test the research model. All
practices.
our measures including performance measures were based
on respondents’ perception. Although this is a limitation

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Proceedings of the 39th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2006

of this research, such measures are often used and are 4. Discussion of results
acceptable in research (see [10, 27, 55]). The survey was
piloted with two groups of knowledge managers – one 4.1 KM practices
based in Canada and one based in the US. These
managers assessed the survey in terms of its content, Table 1 shows the basic statistics of the responses
terminology, length and clarity. We then validated the regarding KM practices (listed in decreasing order of
survey with a group of executives attending an executive mean response), organizational performance and financial
development program at a leading North American performance. Table 1 also reports the reliability of the
Business School. The final survey was launched on the items used to measure KM practices. Reliabilities were
Business School’s web site. An e-newsletter was then sent not measured for the formative measures organizational
to 1,500 executives who had recently attended one of the performance and financial performance. Reliability for
School’s executive programs. They were notified of our the KM Practices was 0.88, well above the accepted level
research project and invited to complete the survey. We for exploratory research (.70).
received 106 responses. Of these, 16 non-profit firms
were removed, as the financial performance indicators did Table 1. Means and standard deviations of key
not apply. The final sample size was 90. The response rate measures
(about 7%) was lower than hoped and likely due to a
number of factors including incorrect email addresses, Item Mean SD Į
deletion of unsolicited email, and/or lack of interest in the KM Practices .88
topic of KM given that the e-newsletter was untargeted. KP1: Knowledge is made a part of strategic 4.31 .87
planning
Nevertheless, we believe that sample is valid. It consists KP5: Employees are valued for what they know 4.27 .72
of firms from Canada, USA and Australia representing 10 KP4: Identifies internal sources of expertise 4.19 .98
different industry sectors. Revenues ranged from $2M to KP6: Experiments/learns regarding customers and 4.17 .92
markets
$10B and the age of the firms ranged from 2-187 years KP7: Experiments/learns regarding products and 4.16 .75
with employees ranging from 30 to over 300,000. services
Respondents were mid-level managers and senior KP8: Experiments/learns regarding operations and 4.08 .87
technology
executives. KP9: Encourages and rewards knowledge sharing 3.63 1.08
KP11: Exploits external knowledge 3.56 1.03
KP2: Benchmarks knowledge versus competitors 3.43 1.0
3.1. Data analysis KP12: KM group provides value 3.22 1.24
KP10: Best practices are transferred within the 3.15 1.19
The final sample of 90 was checked to see if the data organization
KP3: Knowledge strategy maps knowledge to 3.13 1.13
for KM practices, organizational performance and final value creation
performance indicators were missing. Less than 5% of the Organizational Performance (OP) … see Note 1 Note 3
cases had data missing for one or two of their indicators. Product Leadership
• Innovation 3.10 1.02
In addition, the missing data appeared random. Thus, we • Quality 4.11 .75
decided to retain those cases with mean value Customer Intimacy Note 3
substitution. The normality of the data was also checked • Customer Satisfaction 3.82 .81
using SPSS. SPSS was also used to calculate reliability, • Customer Retention 3.92 .90
Operational Excellence N/A
correlation and other descriptive statistics. • Operating Costs 2.99 1.13
We used the partial least squares (PLS) approach to test Financial Performance (FP) … see Note 2 Note 3
our model as it has several advantages. PLS has the ROA/ROE 3.64 .91
Profitability 3.75 .88
ability to handle research models with formative Note 1: Organizational performance was formed by combining three
constructs, relatively small sample sizes and does not constructs – product leadership, customer intimacy and operational
require multivariate normality distributions for the excellence. Product leadership was formed by combining innovation and
quality. Customer intimacy was formed by combining customer satisfaction
underlying data. With PLS, the psychometric properties and customer retention. Operational excellence was measured by
of the scales used to measure constructs are tested and the operating costs.
Note 2: Financial performance was formed by combining two constructs –
strengths and direction of the pre-specified relationships ROA/ROE and profitability.
are analyzed simultaneously (for overview on PLS see [2, Note 3: These constructs are formative (as opposed to reflective) so
alphas were not calculated
13, 23]) using a combination of principal components
analysis, path analysis, and regression [62]. PLS is also
ideally suited to the early stages of theory development Overall responses were strong regarding the extent to
and testing [2, 12], as is the case with this research. which respondent organizations made knowledge a part of
strategic planning, valued employees for what they know,
and identified internal sources of expertise; thus on
average, the respondent firms tended to find value in
employee knowledge. They tended to experiment and

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Proceedings of the 39th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2006

learn about customers, products/services and internal held across a wide variety of organizational contexts is
operations and technology by encouraging and rewarding encouraging and suggests its robustness.
knowledge sharing. They also tended to look outside their
organizations as well, both for benchmarking their 4.3. Value disciplines
knowledge against competitors, and to exploit external
knowledge such as that held by customers. Firms were In order to understand the linkage between KM
less actively engaged in KM practices to transfer best practices and organizational performance in greater detail,
practices internally and develop strategies for mapping we tested three sub-models – one for each of the strategic
knowledge to value creation. Overall, the unit responsible value disciplines (Figures 3). In each case, the outcome
for providing KM was rated only slightly better than paralleled that of the overall model – that is, KM practices
“fair”. For all KM practices, however, there was sufficient related significantly and positively to each of the value
variance to provide interesting findings regarding the disciplines and each value discipline related significantly
relationship between practice and performance. The and positively to financial performance. The fact that the
overall KM practice score ranged from 3.13 to 4.31 out of overall model linking KM practices to organizational
a total score of 5 indicating that respondents perceived performance to financial performance held over all value
that their firm’s engagement in KM practices was “good” disciplines provides further evidence of its robustness.
on average.
KM 0.360*** Product 0.256*** Financial
4.2. Structural research model Practices Leadership Performance

Figure 2 illustrates the primary structural model. The


overall extent to which the respondent organizations KM 0.488*** Customer 0.224** Financial
Practices Intimacy Performance
engaged in the set of KM practices was significantly
(p<.01) and positively related to overall organizational
performance. Organizational performance, in turn, was
KM 0.243* Operational 0.219** Financial
significantly (p<.01) and positively related to financial
Practices Excellence Performance
performance. There was no significant direct relationship
between KM practices and financial performance. The
data provided strong support for the overall research *** p < .01 ** p < .05 * p < .10
model. Based on the non-significant relationship between
KM practices and financial performance, we conclude Figure 3. Main model effects by value
that organizational performance fully mediates the overall discipline
relationship; that is, KM practices enable organizational
performance which enables financial performance much Organizational performance was strongly related to 10
as the literature would predict. of the 12 KM practices – the two exceptions being KP6
(experimenting/learning about customers) and KP8
KM Financial
Practices Performance
(experimenting/learning about technologies and internal
operations) – both of which were significantly correlated
with only one of the three components of organizational
0.508***
Organizational
0.321*** performance, namely customer intimacy. Operational
performance excellence was associated with a highly focused set of
KM practices (i.e., KP4, KP5, KP9 and KP10). These
*** p < .01 firms predominantly focused their KM practices internally
by identifying sources of valuable employee knowledge,
Figure 2. Research model results encouraging and rewarding the sharing of this knowledge,
and by successfully transferring best practices within the
Each of the contextual factors (as described earlier) was firm. High performing firms in terms of product
entered into the primary research model individually in leadership engaged in the same set of KM practices as
order to control for any possible effects due to these firms achieving operational excellence but in addition
factors. Two context factors were found to be engaged in KP1, KP2, KP7 and KP12. These firms made
significantly related to organizational performance (i.e., knowledge a part of strategic planning, benchmarked their
market share and revenue – both measured relative to the knowledge against competitors, experimented with
industry) but none of the context factors had significant products and services, and looked to their internal KM
interaction terms indicating that they did not moderate the department to add significant value. Finally, firms
relationship between KM practices and organizational achieving high customer intimacy significantly engaged
performance. The fact that the primary research model in all KM practices.

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Proceedings of the 39th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2006

Table 2. Pairwise correlation analysis between measures of organizational performance but


KM practices and organizational performance organizational performance also exhibited a significant
and direct relationship to financial performance. This is
Components of Organization Performance an important finding for both practitioners and academics.
KM Organizational Customer Product Oper’l
Practice Performance
Practitioners can now select KM practices based on
Intimacy Leader- Excellence
ship empirical evidence with a reasonable expectation that
KP1 0.251** 0.283*** 0.231** NS these initiatives will be in alignment with their
KP2 0.259** 0.275*** 0.213* NS
KP3 0.261** 0.307*** NS NS
organizational strategy. This study also encourages
KP4 0.393*** 0.367*** 0.272** 0.212** practitioners to focus their KM initiatives on specific
KP5 0.326*** 0.195* 0.317*** 0.249** intermediate outcomes. Practitioners should also be
KP6 NS 0.273** NS NS cognizant of the range and variety of KM practices and
KP7 0.298*** 0.299*** 0.258** NS
the extent to which so many of these are significantly
KP8 NS 0.228** NS NS
KP9 0.410*** 0.376*** 0.199* 0.237** related to performance. Adopting an overly focused set of
KP10 0.387*** 0.386*** 0.284*** 0.181* KM practices (or worse yet, adopting a single KM
KP11 0.337*** 0.296*** NS NS practice) might not result in the desired impact. Finally,
KP12 0.334*** 0.223** 0.201* NS
the existence of a significant gap between what we
*** p< .01 ** p< .05 * p< .10 believe is important and what has been demonstrated to
be important calls for attention.
Highlighted cells represent KM practices rated as important by
respondents whose firms had focused their KM initiatives on specific value Academics should be equally encouraged by these
disciplines. results for no greater reason than the demonstrated impact
of KM practices on organizational performance. This
4.4. KM focus aside, our study was exploratory and, as such, there
remains much work to be done. Given that the majority of
We also explored the organizational focus for KM our constructs were formative, efforts to improve the
activities. Respondents were asked to rate the extent to measurement of KM practices (and possibly the
which their KM activities were focused on each of the identification of additional practices) will prove vital for
three value disciplines – customer intimacy, product the validation and extension of our findings. Research
leadership and operational excellence. In addition, they designs which target respondents and industry sectors
were asked to rate the importance of each of the KM may yield greater insight and understanding as well.
practices in achieving success given their KM focus. The Finally, we need to understand how organizations are to
highlighted cells in Table 2 identify KM practices that develop a “KM mindset” to enable KM practices to get
respondents rated as important for each value discipline. traction within organizations. Without this mindset, many
Table 2 allows us to contrast KM practices that were KM initiatives flounder.
significantly related to achieving value disciplines versus
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organizations manage what they know. 1998, Boston, MA: Knowledge and process management, 2000. 7(4): p. 233-242.
Harvard Business School Press. 41. McCann, J.E. and M. Buckner, Strategically Integrating
22. DeTienne, K.B. and L.A. Jackson, Knwledge management; Knowledge Management Initiatives. Journal of Knowledge
Understanding theory and developing strategy. Management, 2004. 8(1): p. 47-63.
Competitiveness Review, 2001. 11(1): p. 1-11. 42. Miller, D. and J. Shamsie. A Contingent Application of the
23. Fornell, C. and F.L. Bookstein, Two structural equation Resource-based View of the Firm: The Hollywood Film
models: LISREL and PLS applied to consumer exit voice Studios from 1936 to 1965". in Best Paper Proceedings,
theory. Journal of Marketing Research, 1982. 19(November): Academy of Management. 1995.
p. 440-452. 43. Moffett, S., R. McAdam, and S. Parkinson, An Empirical
24. Foss, N.J. and V. Mahnke, Knowledge management: What Analysis of Knowledge Management Applications. Journal of
can organizational economics contribute?, in The Blackwell Knowledge Management, 2003. 7(3): p. 6-26.
handbook of organizational learning and knowledge 44. Mohrman, S.A., D. Finegold, and A.M. Mohrman, An

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Proceedings of the 39th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2006

Empirical Model of the Organization Knowledge System in Measuring the Unmeasurable, P. Nijkamp, L. Leitner, and N.
New Product Development Firms. Journal of Engineering and Wrigley, Editors. 1985, Marinus Nijhoff: Dordrecht. p. 221-
Technology Management, 2003. 20(1-2): p. 7-38. 251.
45. Mukherjee, A.S., M.A. Lapre, and L.N.V. Wassenhove, 63. Zack, M.H., Developing a Knowledge Strategy. California
Knowledge Driven Quality Improvement. Management Management Review, 1999. 41(3): p. 125-145.
Science, 1998. 44(11): p. S35-S49. 64. Zack, M.H., The Strategic Advantage of Knowledge and
46. Nonaka, I., A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Learning. International Journal of Intellectual Capital and
Creation. Organization Science, 1994. 5(1): p. 14-37. Learning, 2005. 2(1): p. 1-20.
47. O'Dell, C., S. Elliot, and C. Hubert, Achieving knowledge
management outcomes, in Handbook on Knowledge Appendix A - Articles linking KM to
Management, C.W. Holsapple, Editor. 2003, Springer: New
York. p. 253-287. organizational performance
48. O'Dell, C. and C.J. Grayson, Identifying and transferring
internal best practices, in Handbook on Knowledge Article Nature Method of Key Finding(s)
of Study Study
Management, C.W. Holsapple, Editor. 2003, Springer: New
[1] Non N/A Taking a KM view, a knowledge chain
York. p. 253-287. empirical model is suggested to gain competitive
49. Sabeherwal, R. and I. Becerra-Fernandex, An empirical advantage in e-commerce.
study of the effect of knowledge management process at [4] Non N/A Develops a framework with three KM
individual, groups, and organizational levels. Decision empirical strategies – acquisition, retention,
exploitation, to gain competitive advantage.
Science, 2003. 34(2): p. 225-260.
[5] Non N/A KM affects competitive advantage through
50. Salazar, A., R. Hackney, and J. Howells, The strategic empirical its effect on quality management.
impact of internet technology in Biotechnology and [6] Non N/A In order to gain competitive advantage
Pharmaceutical firms: Insights from a knowledge empirical from KM, organization ought to treat KM
management perspective. Information Technology and within the context of technological and
social system.
Management, 2003. 4: p. 289-301.
[8] Non N/A KM affects competitiveness through
51. Schulz, M. and L.A. Jobe, Codification and tacitness as empirical innovation
knowledge management strategies: An empirical exploration. [9] Non N/A Identifies that there are three KM activities
Journal of High Technology Management Research, 2001. empirical –knowledge protection, knowledge
12: p. 139-165. leverage and knowledge accumulation. No
knowledge base can lead to sustainable
52. Sher, P.J. and V.C. Lee, Information technology as a advantage unless organizations
facilitator for enhancing dynamic capabilities through continuously create new knowledge. There
knowledge management. Information and Management, 2004. is also a paradox associated with the three
41: p. 933-945. KM activities. For instance aggressive
attempts at leveraging knowledge can
53. Simonin, B.L., The Importance of Collaborative Know- inhibit knowledge accumulation because
How: An Empirical Test of the Learning Organization. the later may typically not offer financial
Academy of Management Journal, 1997. 40(5): p. 1150-1174. returns in the short run whereas the former
often does.
54. Szulanski, G., Exploring Internal Stickiness: Impediments to
[14] Empirical Survey There are four style of KM – human
The Transfer of Best Practice Within The Firm. Strategic oriented, passive, system oriented and
Management Journal, 1996. 17: p. 27-44. dynamic. The dynamic style of KM leads to
55. Tallon, P.P., K.L. Kraemer, and V. Gurbaxani, Executives’ better corporate performance
Perceptions of the Business Value of Information [15] Empirical Survey The study builds KM capability from four
KM resources – technical, human, cultural,
Technology: A Process-Oriented Approach. Journal of and structural. The KM capability is related
Management Information Systems, 2000. 16(4): p. 145-173. to competitive advantage.
56. Teece, D.J., G. Pisano, and A. Shuen, Dynamic Capabilities [16] Non N/A Organizations must build a strategy around
and Strategic Management. Strategic Management Journal, empirical their KM so that it is reflects their
1997. 18(7): p. 509-533. competitive strategy.
57. Thompson, J.D., Organizations in Action. 1967: McGraw [18] Empirical Case study It is argued that the RBV view of KM is
limited because it emphasizes knowledge
Hill. that must be protected and unique. But
58. Treacy, M. and F. Wiersema, the Discipline of Market some organizations in Australia build
Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, competitive advantage by building
alliances and relationships. Thus, KM
Dominate Your Market. 1995: Addison-Wesley. needs a broader perspective then just
59. Tsai, M. and C. Shih, The impact of marketing knowledge RBV.
among managers on marketing capabilities and business [19] Empirical Survey, Organizations with KM orientation
performance. International Journal of Management, 2004. Secondary outperformed organizations with market
orientation.
21(4): p. 524-530.
[22] Non N/A KM will provide performance benefits only
60. Turner, S.F. and R.A. Bettis, Exploring depth versus breadth empirical if organizations develop strategies for
in knowledge management strategies. Computational and filtering knowledge, strengthening
Mathematical Organization Theory, 2002. 8(1): p. 49-73. corporate philosophy, and facilitating
61. von Hippel, E., "Sticky Information" and the Locus of effective communication.
Problem Solving: Implications for Innovation. Management [25] Empirical Case study KM allows Irizar (a company in Spain) to
continuously innovate. Firm culture plays a
Science, 1994. 40(4): p. 429-439. significant role at the company.
62. Wold, H., Systems analysis by partial least squares, in [26] Empirical Survey KM when implemented with human

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Proceedings of the 39th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2006

Article Nature Method of Key Finding(s) Appendix B - Measurement of research


of Study Study
resource management practices and IT constructs
practices lead to higher innovation within
an organization.
[27] Empirical Survey A capability model of KM is built and it is KM practices
shown that knowledge infrastructure The following twelve KM practices were assessed based
capabilities and knowledge processes on a five-point Likert-type scale. The extent of
capabilities impact organizational
performance. engagement in each KM practice was assessed as
[28] Empirical Case study Organizations must mobilize new excellent, good, fair, poor and not at all.
knowledge faster and efficiently to gain
advantage.
KP1 We explicitly recognize knowledge as a key element in
[29] Non N/A Develops an idea of KM value chain. The
our strategic planning exercises
empirical focus of the paper is on primary activities
KP2 We benchmark our strategic knowledge against that of
of the value chain.
our competitors
[30] Non N/A The idea of KM value chain is extended KP3 We have developed a knowledge strategy that maps
empirical with a focus on the secondary activities of knowledge to value creation
the chain.
KP4 We are able to identify sources of expertise within our
[31] Empirical Case study The effect of KM on organizational organization
performance is contingent upon various KP5 Our employees are valued for what they know
firm level and organizational level KP6 We look for opportunities to experiment and learn more
contingencies. KM is divided into three about customers
processes – knowledge development,
KP7 We look for opportunities to experiment and learn more
knowledge utilization and knowledge
about products and services
capitalization. Each process has its own
contingencies factors and performance KP8 We look for opportunities to experiment and learn more
outcomes about technologies and internal operations
KP9 Our organization encourages and rewards the sharing of
[35] Non N/A Develops an idea of knowledge value
knowledge
empirical chain (KVC) and suggests that competitive
KP10 We have effective internal procedures for transferring
advantage comes from the way
best practices throughout the organization
organization performs each knowledge
activity in the (KVC) KP11 We exploit external sources of knowledge effectively
including customer knowledge
[36] Empirical Survey The study shows that KM enablers effect
KP12 Our knowledge management group is a recognized
KM processes, which in turn effect
source of value creation within the organization
organizational performance through
intermediate impacts
[37] Empirical Survey KM is positively correlated to performance. Other constructs
[39] Empirical Case study KM should be applied within a defined Respondents were asked to rank their organization’s
context. At Nortel, KM was applied to new
product development process which led to performance in terms of profitability, ROA/ROE, quality
significant improvements in product of service/product, operation costs, innovation and rate of
innovation.
new product development, customer satisfaction and
[40] Empirical Survey A theoretical model is developed and
tested show that KM allows organizations customer retention relative to the other organizations in
to innovate the industry on a 5-point Likert-type scale (one of the
[49] Empirical Survey Using Nonaka and Takeuchi’s SECI model, lowest, below average, average, above average, one of the
the study shows that socialization and
combination effects organizational highest). Operating costs were reverse coded. These
effectiveness. The study also shows assessments were then used to form the following
individual effectiveness affects group
effectiveness, which in turn effects constructs:
organizational effectiveness • Financial performance: formed by combining
[50] Empirical Case study KM has enabled smaller pharmaceutical ROA/ROE and profitability.
and biotechnology firms to compete and
gain competitive advantage. • Organizational performance (overall): formed
[51] Empirical Survey The paper develops four strategies for KM by combining innovation, rate of new product
– codification, tacitness, focused and
unfocused. The results suggest that
development, customer satisfaction, customer
focused strategy results in superior firm retention and operating costs.
performance.
• Organizational performance by value discipline:
[52] Empirical Survey KM affects dynamic capabilities, which in
turn effects firm’s competitive advantage • Product leadership: formed by combining
[59] Empirical Survey The relationship between marketing KM innovation and rate of new product
and business performance is mediated by development.
marketing capabilities.
[60] Empirical Experimental Knowledge integration strategy • Customer intimacy: formed by combining
outperforms knowledge redundancy customer satisfaction and customer retention.
strategy
• Operational excellence: operating costs

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